When Will MBA Be Updated

[thinkdesign]

The Air's design is already so close...

to... I won't say "good" in the absence of defining that term (which would take too much energy away from my focus now)... but let's just say that the current Air hits such a number of sweet spots... IMHO it doesn't need a redesign as complete as what the DigiTimes rumor suggests.

I agree the size of the keyboard is one thing that the Air got right, and importantly right (because ergonomics relates to health and safety and so should almost by definition trump all else) should not be reduced.

I also think shrinking the screen is a mistake, and that this was also something the Air already gets right. Within that size, of course I'd always welcome improvements in the quality (contrast, or -- there's always plenty of room to include screens' outdoor performance) ... and even welcome touch capability.

But design always involves tradeoffs. And subjectivity about how something will be received. That intensifies if you have a policy of shying away from market research and testing with users outside of your company.

The subjectivity for example can mean that when you draw up a series of possible design revisions... the last one can tend to seem the best. More than is true... defined for the moment as -- more than will seem to be true a year later. Any cheif designer needs another skilled person present who is free to say "I don't think the 7th and last one you drew IS the best, I think it all peaked at version 5."

If one can understand how songwriters famously have trouble picking out which song will grab people the most... then one can understand how subjectivity can impair a lone-designer's or lone-decision-maker's ability to evaluate which design will work out best.

All of which is my preamble to ssaying that the 11.6" screen mentioned by DIgiTimes, if true, suggests to me that Jobs or Jobs & Ive may be getting carried away with notions of how drastically the Air's design needs revamping. There can be a logic to saying that if several small changes are needed (and maybe 1 or 2 new technologies have become available), then let's do a general revision.

But IMHO the Air's so good that it doesn't need general revision; it needs small continuous improvements (in the Japanese term's sense), plus just one big reality-facing problem-solving effort in terms of case strength (hinges, "white donut" problem, and keeping trackpad button from hitting bezel).

Don't overdo it, Apple!

 

[abriwin]

Steve said he would never make a netbook but

he didn't say he would never make a small powerful computer did he?

One of the things that's folks seemed to have complained about with the original MBA design was lack of ports. Today I happened to be installing Skype on my daughter's Acer Aspire One which is running Linux 9.04 and I said to her what a pity Apple doesn't make a Mac this size. I placed the Acer on top of my wife's 13" Macbook, it's 2" narrower and about the same in depth and I guess the 13" Macbook is around the same size as an MBA but here's the rub. The little Acer which is smaller than the MBA has no less than 3 usb ports, 2 sd slots, 1 ethernet port and a video out port.

Now maybe I am missing something here but the MBA weighs 3 lbs the AAO weighs 2lbs (and can be pushed to run MacOS at a pinch) The MBA costs around £1,200 and the AAO cost £300 so why I ask myself can't a machine running MacOSX compete with one running Linux. Why can't a MBA have 3 usb ports and ethernet or firewire. Why does it need a special optical drive. Why do we need a usb hub to run a mouse and an external hard drive or even a pen drive to back up on?

Thin is only in the eye of those who look at the MBA from the front, it's an optical illusion! Is it really necessary to pay an extra £900 just to have MacOSX running on a machine crippled by the manufacturer just so it can look nice.

Which rules, form or function?

 

[tim100]

what are the odds of an updated air within the next 4 weeks

 

[Cheffy Dave]

what are the odds of an updated air within the next 4 weeks

Zero!

 

[entatlrg]

what are the odds of an updated air within the next 4 weeks

I'd say zero too ... I don't think Apple has ever done MacBook updates in July/August??

 

[tim100]

how about the 11 inch rumors

Zero!

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/968158/

 

[ValSalva]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/968158/

If an 11.6" MB Air comes I think it will be announced with new iMacs in an October time frame. The processors mentioned in that rumor aren't available yet, or are they?

 

[abriwin]

Nothing in July or August?

What about a 'back to school' slot for an 11.6" MBA?

 

[ValSalva]

What about a 'back to school' slot for an 11.6" MBA?

I don't think Apple views the Air as a student computer. It's awfully expensive for what you get. It's more like the traveling executive's notebook. Plus Apple doesn't seem to release new hardware for the back to school promo. Apple seems to prefer clearing stock of established models. Thus the MacBook and now old iMacs will be pushed for the back to school crowd.

 

[jk1002]

I believe that the 11" rumor is BS. Mac OS is not really that useable on small screens. With the floating windows there is just a lot of space wasted. I mean there is not even a maximize window button as windows has it.

That was one of the 1 st things i noticed when i moved from my 12" thinkpad to my 12" powerbook.

The current air is acceptible to me screenwise. I would even like something slightly bigger. Maybe 14", 15 could be hard to open on the airplane.

 

[thinkdesign]

abriwin: it'll be a combined sale...

... "Back To School" and "Back to the Airport's V.I.P. Lounge".

Watching the rate at which Jobs allows Apple to innovate, can be as slow as watching grass grow.

So... I'm now truly encouraged to delay my purchase because the new one someday might remedy 1 or 2 or even 3 areas of marginal adequacy in the current model. Or not.

If I get to November, and see that the new Air has one new stingy dealbreaker thing in the design... then I'll need to buy what may or may not be the last of the 2.13 SSD models. And feel foolish for not having done so in July or even 6 months earlier than that.

I love how easy the design's 3 lbs. is on my hands ... and I love even more how the 3 lbs. plus the wedge shape lowering the front edge almost to the tabletop is so ergonomically easy on my wrists ... and I love how Apple has built a whole educational and helping-the-user ecosystem so I don't need to devote hours ad infinitum to learning to use it .... but when it comes to courting the Air as a primary computer for a truly "mobile" worker... love ain't easy!

If Rip Van Jobs leaves a cellular modem out of the next Air... maybe we should organise a picket line outside of his office.

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

he didn't say he would never make a small powerful computer did he?

One of the things that's folks seemed to have complained about with the original MBA design was lack of ports. Today I happened to be installing Skype on my daughter's Acer Aspire One which is running Linux 9.04 and I said to her what a pity Apple doesn't make a Mac this size. I placed the Acer on top of my wife's 13" Macbook, it's 2" narrower and about the same in depth and I guess the 13" Macbook is around the same size as an MBA but here's the rub. The little Acer which is smaller than the MBA has no less than 3 usb ports, 2 sd slots, 1 ethernet port and a video out port.

Now maybe I am missing something here but the MBA weighs 3 lbs the AAO weighs 2lbs (and can be pushed to run MacOS at a pinch) The MBA costs around £1,200 and the AAO cost £300 so why I ask myself can't a machine running MacOSX compete with one running Linux. Why can't a MBA have 3 usb ports and ethernet or firewire. Why does it need a special optical drive. Why do we need a usb hub to run a mouse and an external hard drive or even a pen drive to back up on?

Thin is only in the eye of those who look at the MBA from the front, it's an optical illusion! Is it really necessary to pay an extra £900 just to have MacOSX running on a machine crippled by the manufacturer just so it can look nice.

Which rules, form or function?

When the MBA was first introduced, I lusted after one. I went and played with one at a store, almost bought it, but decided that I couldn't justify the price tag. Others can, obviously, its all about your own value system.

But I do often wonder how much margin Apple makes on the MBA relative to the remainder of their line. I can somewhat (barely) justify the "Apple Tax" on my new 2010 i7 15" MBP. The components in there aren't state-of-the-art when compared to similarly configured systems from Sony, HP and others. But they are close and the overall packaging and build quality is impressive enough to justify the upcharge.

I think that's somewhat the problem with justifying the price for a MBA. There aren't a lot of computers you can compare it to. If you compare it to a Netbook (and from a form/function level thats a fair comparison), it looks grossly overpriced. But its not meant to be compared that way, Apple doesn't offer a Netbook, they offer the iPad more at that level. Of course the iPad didn't exist when the MBA was introduced.

The MBA is an ultraportable, the so-called 'executive laptop' class you see from Lenovo and others. So you go to compare it to, say, a Lenovo X301, which is quite a bit newer than the X2xx series that existed at the time of the MBA's introduction. Now the comparison becomes a bit easier and the cost justification as well.

For me, the hard part of any MBA justification will always be that for the price, I can buy an entry level Macbook AND an iPad both. But then again, I'm not 'executive' class.

 

[jk1002]

I don't like the term executive.

For one it is not easy to switch from windows to mac back and forth all the time - in fact it is annoying and I nearly went back to windows over it.

In the second where you are mobile - traveling for work or just to the next Starbucks this thing becomes interesting.

To me to be frank the Air is price wise interesting. I don't want the mirrored display - so the next best thing is the 15" with the high res display .... that's quite a bit more money plus dragging it around will be a pain. I don't need the Power of the 15" ....

For me it's either an Air or I buy into the 15" which sets me back way more then the Air or the 3rd option I toss Mac out and go back to Windows.

Just update the Air for crying out loud. A year with no updates is ridiculous. They should get to a point where the differences become so close that it doesn't matter anymore to time the purchase ......

 

[thinkdesign]

jk1002: Thank you for that very interesting post.

But does the display of the Mac OS on a screen as small as the rumored 11.6"... have to be unmediated by what I have seen called a "skin"?

I take your post, plus rumors of a iOS skin as how a touch-screen iMac could be offered (the rumor from the engineer who worked at Apple)... as meaning that if the new Air is 11.6" it also has the iOS layer on top. With OR without a touchscreen.

I suspect that any doubts about the ergonomics of a touchscreen iMac (as expressed, those doubts assumed that the screen remains upright as in the current design, though perhaps a new design could place the screen closer to horizontal than to vertical) suggested as due within 60 days... may pale compared with the ergonomics of a touchscreen on an Air.

Touch an Air's screen with more than a little pressure, and you'll overturn it; the screen will move towards the table top as the keyboard part lifts off the table. The keyboard part would be attempting to act as a ballast weight... and if we consider the "lighter" part of the DigiTimes rumor too, well, lightening the ballast is making the overturning or tipping problem worse. This suggests to me that a touch-screen version would need a little innovation in the case design, (so that if wanting to use the touch capability, the screen can be repositioned, lower.... or perhaps a double-acting hinge like the PC tablets have? More likely in the nearer term, NO touchscreen in the Air.

None of this is intended as predicting what's most probable in the next revisiion. Just trying to project where a few clues might lead, into the unclear future.

 

[robeddie]

... "Back To School" and "Back to the Airport's V.I.P. Lounge".

Watching the rate at which Jobs allows Apple to innovate, can be as slow as watching grass grow.

Au contraire, my grass is growing so fast right now I have to mow it at least once every two weeks.

If I let it go a month, it'll be almost out of control.

Unlike my grass, if I ignore Apple for a month I won't be so far behind I can barely keep up.

 

[Scottsdale]

Au contraire, my grass is growing so fast right now I have to mow it at least once every two weeks.

If I let it go a month, it'll be almost out of control.

Unlike my grass, if I ignore Apple for a month I won't be so far behind I can barely keep up.

Are you so confident about your MBA update happening tomorrow that you're waking up early to check Apple.com? Tomorrow is your prediction... right.

 

[Scottsdale]

Au contraire, my grass is growing so fast right now I have to mow it at least once every two weeks.

If I let it go a month, it'll be almost out of control.

Unlike my grass, if I ignore Apple for a month I won't be so far behind I can barely keep up.

What happened to your prediction for today's MacBook Air update? Was it a last minute change due to shortage of IPS displays or of 256 GB SSDs or something else, or were you wrong from the beginning?

Someone else's turn to take a shot at the MBA update date... sooner or later, someone will be correct on the update date or many will be correct with the prediction of EOL.

Will this happen in 2010? Or 2011? Or what?

Just last week I had actually forgotten about checking for an MBA update Tuesday morning. Now I was back checking Apple.com as soon as I woke up this morning for the update check. I hope I can go back to forgetting about it so time goes by much faster.

 

[robeddie]

What happened to your prediction for today's MacBook Air update? Was it a last minute change due to shortage of IPS displays or of 256 GB SSDs or something else, or were you wrong from the beginning?

Someone else's turn to take a shot at the MBA update date... sooner or later, someone will be correct on the update date or many will be correct with the prediction of EOL.

Will this happen in 2010? Or 2011? Or what?

Just last week I had actually forgotten about checking for an MBA update Tuesday morning. Now I was back checking Apple.com as soon as I woke up this morning for the update check. I hope I can go back to forgetting about it so time goes by much faster.

It's not 10am Pacific time yet. But you're right, it doesn't look promising, does it.

The thing is, I have my cash on hand now too, so if/when it happens, I'm off to get my new MBA.

 

[abriwin]

If & when

the MBA is updated, what are the odds for it having two usb ports and an sd slot?

 

[flynz4]

What happened to your prediction for today's MacBook Air update? Was it a last minute change due to shortage of IPS displays or of 256 GB SSDs or something else, or were you wrong from the beginning?

Someone else's turn to take a shot at the MBA update date... sooner or later, someone will be correct on the update date or many will be correct with the prediction of EOL.

Will this happen in 2010? Or 2011? Or what?

Just last week I had actually forgotten about checking for an MBA update Tuesday morning. Now I was back checking Apple.com as soon as I woke up this morning for the update check. I hope I can go back to forgetting about it so time goes by much faster.

I do not think it will be EOL'd. I would guess in Q1 '11. I predict Jobs will pull an 11.6 MBA and 13.3 MBA out of the same manila envelope.

/Jim

 

[robeddie]

I do not think it will be EOL'd. I would guess in Q1 '11. I predict Jobs will pull an 11.6 MBA and 13.3 MBA out of the same manila envelope.

/Jim

Or ... he pulls the current model MBA out of a manila envelope, then he opens up the lid to reveal ... an even SMALLER MBA sitting inside the old MBA.

Then he opens that smaller one to reveal, guess what ... a smaller one still!

 

[gan6660]

October 5th 2010 for the update. What that will include I am unsure.

 

[1984]

Another Tuesday another disappointment.

 

[zedsdead]

Another Tuesday another disappointment.

Today is Apple's Financial Report. They never release products once that date is announced, nor will they until the day after the report. Meaning, tomorrow at the earliest. I wouldn't expect anything this week though.

 

[AtmChm]

Consider...

From the Apple Store website:

Top Sellers
Mac
1. MacBook Pro
2. iMac
3. MacBook
4. Mac mini
5. Mac Pro
6. MacBook Air
7. Apple Magic Mouse

So the MBA is the lowest selling Mac, behind even the Mac Pro.

From Amazon

MacBook Air is #155 in Computers & Accessories
Next highest selling (current production) is MacBook at #88
13" MBP is #1 and has been in the top 100 for 99 days

The MBA I ordered July 9th and received yesterday (shipped from China) was manufactured in the last two weeks. I assume this means there is very little stock on hand in Apple warehouses.

On the other hand, it appears Apple changed the SSD to a much faster model/different manufacturer sometime in May. Good news if Apple was looking to change the SSD. Bad news if it wasn't and this change was just a result of supply issues.